PDF The 20 Unhealthiest Drinks in America

The 20 Unhealthiest Drinks in America

By: David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding

1. The Worst Drink in America Baskin-Robbins Large Heath Bar Shake

2,310 calories 108 g fat (64 g saturated) 266 g

Let's look at America's Worst Drink in numbers:

73: The number of ingredients that go into this milkshake. 66: The number of teaspoons of sugar this drink contains. 11: The number of Heath Bars you would have to eat to equal the number of calories found in one Baskin Robbins Large Heath Bar Shake. 12: The average number of minutes it takes to consume this drink. 240: The number of minutes you'd need to spend on a treadmill, running at a moderate pace, to burn it off.

2. Worst Milkshake Baskin-Robbins Large York Peppermint Pattie Shake (32 oz)

2,210 calories 103 g fat (57 g saturated) 281 g sugar

The freakish brother of the Heath monster, the York shake earns its title as the most sugar-saturated product in America. To put it in perspective, you'd have to down 15 Twinkies to match the sugar content in this Baskin-Robbins blunder.

3. Worst Smoothie Jamba Juice Peanut Butter Moo'd Power Smoothie (30 oz)

1,170 calories 169 g sugars

Jamba Juice calls it a smoothie; we call it a milkshake, with more sugar than an entire bag of chocolate chips. (Note: We're pretty sure this is the drink Hollywood actors rely on when looking to put on 20 pounds for the role as a heavy!)

4. Worst Frozen Coffee Drink Cosi Gigante Double OH! Arctic (24 oz)

1,033 calories 35 g fat 177 g carbohydrates

Frozen coffee amalgamations pollute the antioxidant powers of a simple cup of joe with a huge hit of whole milk, sugary syrups, and whipped cream. What you end up with, in worst-case scenarios like this, is half a day's worth of calories, ready to be sipped down in a matter of minutes. Want a cold caffeine kick? Try iced coffee.

5. Worst Blended Fruit Drink Baskin-Robbins Pomegranate Banana Fruit Blast Smoothie (32 oz)

1,020 calories 232 g sugar

With three of the five worst drinks in America, you have to wonder if Baskin-Robbins is in bed with the sugar cane industry. One thing is for sure: People ordering this "smoothie" expecting a healthy afternoon snack have something else coming to them. The second ingredient, after water, is sugar. If you must sip on something at BaskinRobbins, make it a small low-fat Cappuccino Blast, which has just 220 calories and onefifth of the sugar of this Fruit Blast.

6. Worst Hot Coffee Starbucks Venti 2% Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha

660 calories 22 g fat (14 g saturated) 95 g sugar

Important Rule of Thumb: Avoid holiday-themed items from coffee shops at all costs. From peppermint to egg nog to pumpkin, these are often the most sugar- and fat-packed drinks you'll find at places like Starbucks. Make your own flavored drinks instead, using skim milk, sugar-free syrups, and, of course, skipping the whip.

7. Worst Coffee Alternative Starbucks Venti White Hot Chocolate

640 calories 23 g fat (15 g saturated) 76 g sugar

Caffeine abstainers will find little nutritional refuge in Starbucks' hot chocolate concoctions. This one packs an entire day's worth of saturated fat, with more than enough sugar to set you up for a dramatic mid-afternoon energy crash. Stick with the Steamed Apple Juice instead.

8. Worst Summer Cocktail Pina Colada

625 calories 75 g sugars

Made from a blend of sickly-sweet pineapple juice and fat-riddled coconut milk, pina coladas may be this summer's biggest beach-body saboteurs. In fact, the only redeeming part of this drink is the garnish - that lonely chunk of pineapple hanging from the rim. Try a lime daiquiri or a mojito instead and save up to 400 calories.

9. Worst Kid's Hot Beverage Cosi Kid's Hot Chocolate (12 oz)

436 calories 60 g sugar

While most parents sip their lattes and cappuccinos, most kids sip on hot chocolate. Problem is, few things could be worse for a growing body. There are more calories in this small drink than in Cosi's Gooey Grilled Cheese sandwich, plus enough sugar to send your kids bouncing off the walls.

10. Worst Chai Tea Drink Caribou Coffee Large Chai Tea Latte

420 calories 47 g sugar

This is exactly the kind of drink that health-conscious consumers knock down each morning thinking they're doing themselves a favor. Nothing could be further from the truth. Flavored lattes-even ones flavored with seemingly healthy stuff like chai-are bad news. Stick to skinny lattes or unsweetened chai.

11. Worst Chocolate Milk Nesquik (16 oz bottle)

400 calories 10 g fat (6 g saturated) 60 g sugar

Quik and other chocolate milk manufacturers try to sell parents on the bone-building calcium found in their product, but what they don't talk about is the fact that a single bottle of this stuff contains as much sugar as three Haagen Dazs Vanilla and Almond ice cream bars. Yikes. Make it yourself at home with 2 percent milk and a scoop of real

powdered cocoa-you'll save about 150 calories, plus get the antioxidant benefits of cacao without the high-fructose corn syrup.

12. Worst Juice Imposter Arizona Kiwi Strawberry (23.5 oz can)

360 calories 84 grams of sugar

These hulking calorie cannons (5 percent juice, 95 percent sugar water) are sold at gas stations and convenience stores across America for the low, low price of 99 cents, making this quite possibly the cheapest source of empty calories in the country.

13. Worst Iced Tea Lipton Iced Brisk Lemon Iced Tea (20 oz bottle)

325 calories 81 g sugar

Iced tea is loaded with metabolism-boosting, cancer-fighting compounds called polyphenols, but Lipton does its best to undo any potential healthy benefit you might derive from the tea's antioxidants by drowning them in 20 teaspoons of sugar. Your tea of choice should carry no more than 15 grams of sugar per 20-ounce serving.

14. Worst Energy Drink Rockstar Original (16 oz can)

280 calories 62 g sugar

Energy drink makers might feign a level of health by fortifying their products with a cocktail of vitamins and minerals, but don't be fooled: Any minimal benefit they might provide is snuffed out by the blanket of sugar and calories each can contains. Want energy? Try a cup of homebrewed black tea. It nearly zero calories and contains a deluge of disease-fighting antioxidants.

275 calories 70 g sugar

16. Worst Lemonade Minute Maid Lemonade (20 oz bottle)

250 calories 68 g sugar

This is little more than glorified sugar water, with only a trace amount of real juice. Lemonade in general is a dubious

17. Worst BeerSierra Nevada Stout (12 oz bottle)

210 calories 20 g carbohydrates

A full-flavored beer, no doubt, but one that packs a hefty caloric wallop. Switching out a sixer a week for a lighter beer would save you 9 pounds of extra flab this year. Cheers to that!

18. Worst Soda Sunkist (12 oz can)

190 calories 52 g sugar

Sweetened soft drinks account for about 10 percent of the average American's calorie consumption-about 200 completely unnecessary calories a day. For someone looking to lose 10 pounds fast, there is no simpler, quicker way to do it than by canning the soda.

19. Worst "Healthy" Drink Glaceau VitaminWater (20 oz bottle)

130 calories 33 g sugar

Vitamins and water might sound like the ultimate nutritional tag team, but what the label doesn't say is that a bottle of this stuff carries nearly as much sugar and calories as a can of Coke. Makes sense, though, since this so-called functional beverage is produced by our often-sugar-crazy friends at The Coca-Cola Company.

20. Worst Light Beer Samuel Adams Light (12 oz bottle)

124 calories 10 g carbohydrates

Not a bad beer, but don't think you can sit around sipping these for four quarters without eventually paying the price in belly fat. With tasty beers like Beck's 64-calorie Premier Light readily available, why throw away 60 calories every time you twist the top?

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